~and some things never change~


I look at this picture from time to time and remember my old self, the younger version of me from the "land of long ago and far, far away".  The picture wasn't staged as many photos are today.  The photographer from the Hutch News slipped around the corner of the new library at Haven High School back in 1971 to snap a picture of a young girl intent on getting library books in the right order.  The serious look on my face was one that I wore quite often back then and still find myself doing quite often today.  

That was 48 years ago and proof of one certainty.
Some things just never change.

I was a sophomore that year with my future awaiting me out there somewhere.  I had absolutely zero idea about what I wanted to do when I got out of high school.  As a matter of fact, going to college really hadn't even entered the picture.  If someone would have told me back then that I'd be a teacher for at least 40 years, I'd have looked at them as if they had lost their mind.  

Fast forward into the future, and here I am.  

I used to think that I'd like to go back and tell the girl that I used to be about all of the mistakes she would make.  I'd want to steer myself away from many of the roads of life that I ended up taking.  There might be words of caution to advise that young lady of people to avoid or circumstances to stay clear of.  If only she would know.

Now at age nearly 64, I am sure I would never want to go back to do it all over again.  Even though the road map of my life has a whole lot of twists and turns, filled with potholes and construction work all over the place, it was indeed the road that I was to follow.  For every unfortunate situation I might have found myself in, there were many other times that were filled with blessings.  Overall if I had to rate life, I'd say 99% of the time I couldn't really complain.  It was the 1% that changed and continued to mold my character, thus turning me into the person that I am today.

You would have liked that young girl.  She did smile from time to time and worked hard to prove that she could do things.  If you needed help or had a question about something, she was the one you could go to.  The young girl in the picture was in the springtime of life.  The older girl I am now has been settled into autumn for quite a while.  Somewhere down the road the winter version of me awaits, and I'm getting used to the fact that she will be an all right one to be as well.

I don't believe I truly ever understood my destiny, that is until now.  God hasn't kept me in the classroom for this very long without a real reason.  There is work yet to do and children who truly need me to be there.  I never imagined it would be here in Ponca City, and I certainly never thought it would be in the fifth grade. 

Indeed I am down to my few remaining years as a teacher.  It's hard to explain but I feel like everything that I ever wanted to accomplish in the classroom and didn't get to, has now come to the surface just waiting to be done.  My sincere hope is that whatever time is left for me in education will be spent to the fullest, and that my effort will be one that I can look back on in my winter and feel proud of.

Teaching for Ponca City Public Schools is the opportunity of a lifetime for me.
Watch for progress.
I'll keep you posted.
He climbed the ladder yesterday in my classroom so I didn't have to.
~a part of my destiny~

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